The administration building is directly under the charge of Warden Wolfer.
He has the power to appoint all subordinate officers and employes and
discharge them for inefficiency and insubordination. As chief executive
officer of the prison, under the supervision of the State Board of
Control, the warden is directly responsible for its successful management,
the humane treatment and reformation of the inmates placed in his care for
safe keeping.
Warden Wolfer is one of the best prison men in this country and the
enviable reputation Minnesota’s penitentiary has attained is due entirely
to his long and successful experience in handling criminals. He has headed
the Stillwater institution for nearly twenty years and has conducted the
affairs of the prison in a sane and business‐like manner. Under his
unceasing vigilance the institution has emerged from a non‐paying to a
profit‐earning enterprise, and today it is one of the best self‐supporting
institutions in the world, for, in our opinion, Europe has nothing that
can compare with it. Mr. Wolfer has received many flattering offers from
other states to take charge of their penal institutions, but he has
declined, preferring to remain at the head of the institution that he has
worked so faithfully to perfect.
The position of warden of the Minnesota state prison is no sinecure, for
that presiding officer is one of the busiest men in the state. The
business connected with the twine plant, conducted almost entirely on a
mail‐order basis, is colossal in itself, there being nearly fifteen
million pounds to be disposed of each year. In addition to this important
item the task of maintaining peace and harmony among the officers, guards,
employes and the (at present) seven hundred prisoners assumes monumental
proportions. However, Mr. Wolfer has succeeded in performing this gigantic
labor for all concerned year in and year out with rare tact and good
judgment.
For comparative purposes, the expenses ten years ago, with a population of
504 prisoners, exceeded the earnings by $35,285.04, whereas the earnings
for 1906‐7 were $329,735.70, a remarkable showing indeed and speaking well
for the executive ability of the present management.
Warden Wolfer is an excellent type of the successful self‐made man. From a
guard in his youth at the Joliet (Ill.) penitentiary and later in charge
of the Detroit House of Correction, he was enabled to accept the
wardenship of the Stillwater, Minnesota, institution.
There are several assistants employed in the executive department, where
the method of conducting the business of the prison is thoroughly
systematized and the organization is as nearly perfect as possible. The
warden is at all times in touch with every detail of the institution and
all correspondence of the prison, of whatsoever nature, passes through his
hands for final disposition. He makes a trip each day through the various
departments, morning and afternoon, to personally ascertain that
everything is in proper order. This watchfulness produces good results;
for instance, a short time ago he found a guard in the act of assaulting a
prisoner and immediately discharged him. Again, he overheard a guard using
extremely abusive language toward a prisoner and reduced his salary in
consequence. As all such offenses are posted on a bulletin board just
outside of the warden’s office and in the corridor leading into the prison
the officers and guards are careful in their treatment of inmates under
their charge.
[Horace W. Davis, Chief Clerk and Accounting Officer.]
Horace W. Davis, Chief Clerk and Accounting Officer.
[Main Street Inside Prison Walls ]